Human trafficking - 3rd illicit trade

Human trafficking is the third biggest profitable illicit trade happening in this world. According to UNFPA estimate, around 1.3 million people are trafficked throughout the world every year. Thousands of children and women are being affected with this trade. India, a country that stands 2nd in terms of world population is also a worst hit. According to UNICEF around 3 lakhs children, mostly girls are trafficked and most of them are pushed into prostitution. People are convinced, threatened, abducted or cheated and are pushed into this flesh market that has no mercy for the victims. It is one of the worst forms of modern day exploitation. It violates all the human right laws. Do you ever wonder how this human trafficking takes place, how many people and families get hit by this? In this post I want to highlight some of the real life cases and show how this trade takes place and what change is necessary from us as a human being in this society.

Poverty is the root cause for this trafficking. The victims families are usually poor and they are lured by good job offer or sometimes blackmailed to force them to sell their daughter or son. Teenage girls from poor families are the worst victims for the prostitution trade. They are either offered a job of house keeper or something else and then taken to big cities like Mumbai, kolkatta and are pushed into this trade. Innocent girls don't know what they are getting into and once they are sold to these pimps they are beaten, tortured or threatened for doing this illicit job. Their life is made miserable and they are forced to do what they shouldn't have. They are subjected to in human conditions and illicit flesh trade. There is small or big racket in every city and girls are supplied to international levels. At the time of common wealth games, this business bloomed due to lot of visitors. It is now time to stop this crime and take some strong action.

Secondly the innocent kids who are below 5 years are being sold for all different purposes. Boys of this age are sold to the Arab countries so that they become camel jockeys for the annual race. They are subjected to very brutal living conditions that can scare a street dog! Imagine those poor innocent kids are taught to ride a camel and make a balance in the race, what if they couldn't! There is no second chance, they are killed by the camel stampede. This is another form of human trafficking. In last few months, there was a case of 'Baby Falak' that was in the news for long time. If you go through the case, it is a case of human trafficking for the whole family. Her mother after being abandoned by her husband was forced to prostitution. When she strongly refused that, she was deceived into the flesh market by marrying her off to a guy who promised to take care of her children as well. She was subjected to physical assault and resold to another person. In this way, uneducated woman are deceived and lured in the flesh trade. More information about the case you can go through these links.

Human trafficking is increasing a lot in India and mostly due to the need of money and exploitation of the poor. We are heading towards 21st century with all these back logs. Where are we heading to? What about the future of these innocent kids who are pulled in this black market? They don't deserve to live a life like this because of their parent's mistakes or greed.

As a responsible human being lets contribute to this society by showing more awareness and being vigilant regarding these things and report to the police immediately when we see such cases being happening around us. There has been an establishment of 'Integrated Anti human trafficking unit' and police officers are being trained regarding this human trafficking. Apart from that awareness should be spread in our community and villages about how human trafficking can take place with any of us. This awareness can be in form of a theater play, in the form of writing or by public awareness campaigns. This human trafficking should be explained to the children in schools and by parents and they should also be taught what they should do if they find themselves trapped in it. Also, the affected victims should be rehabilitated and should be employed to do some basic community service work according to their caliber.

P.S : This post is written as a part of Indiblogger 'Time to Change' contest.